How to Make a Rooster House

If you own both chickens and roosters, it’s essential to make a house for the rooster so that you can separate the hens from the roosters from time to time. For instance, you should separate them when you want the hens to sit on their fertilized eggs so the baby chickens can hatch. Unless you enjoy the sound of a rooster cock-a-doodle-dooing before dawn, you should position your rooster house as far away from your living quarters as possible.

Contact a shipping company to see if it can give or sell you a large used wooden shipping crate. Depending how tall your rooster is, the longest side of the crate should be at least 3 or 4 feet high.

Set up the crate so that the long sides are perpendicular to the ground and the crate opening is one of those long sides. If the opening is one of the short sides, pick a different crate. If the crate is a box shape, how you set it up won’t matter except that the opening cannot be the top or bottom of the crate. It must be one of the sides so that the rooster can walk in by himself, using the side of the crate as a ramp.

Measure the opening of the crate and transfer those measurements to the screen using a marking pen, adding an extra inch on every side.

Cut out the measured screen with scissors.

Transfer the measurements to the 2” x 2” piece of wood with the measuring tape and a pen. Saw off the four sides to create the frame for a screen door.

Hammer the ends of the wood together to form the square or rectangular door frame.

Staple the screen to one side of the door frame. Put staples about every two inches or so. Make sure to pull the screen tightly against the frame as you staple it to the door frame.

Measure 4 inches down from the top and 4 inches up from the bottom of one side of the door frame. Make sure it’s the side opposite of where the screen was stapled.

Lay the two hinges on the frame at the 4-inch markings. Drill the screws that came with the hinges through the hinges and into the frame.

Find the midpoint on the opposite edge of the door frame and place an eye hook and latch. Twist and push the eyehook into the wood with your hands.

Line up the finished door frame with the opening of the rooster house and drill the final screws through the two hinges and into the side of the rooster house, making sure the hinges are situated so that the door can swing open and closed easily.

Add the final eye hook to the side of the house closest to the latch and line it up with the eye hook on the door frame. Twist and push it into the wood.